About my work and me

Jakob Schwalb-Willmann – Spatial Data Science, Earth Observation, Machine Learning

Hi, I am an environmental researcher, specialized in Earth observation and spatial data science. My research aims to better understand environmental processes and species-environment interactions across ecosystems and scales by integrating environmental data from diverse sources, such as satellite and drone remote sensing, movement tracking, or in situ ground measurements. For this, I am developing and applying quantitative modelling techniques using geo-spatial statistics, machine and deep learning at the interface of remote sensing and ecology research.

For example, I am fascinated by the idea of employing animals as environmental informants by tracking them on large global scales and then letting a computer learn patterns in their interactions with the environment. To detect and utilize such animal-environment interactions for Earth observation, I have been using deep learning to jointly analyse global animal movement tracking data and temporally synchronous environmental data acquired by satellites. This was part of my doctoral research at University of Würzburg with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior.

Currently, I am working as a postdoc researcher and lecturer at the Earth Observation Research Cluster (EORC) at University of Wuerzburg, where I am part of the UAV Team. There, we fly drones equipped with multi-spectral, thermal, and laser imaging sensors mapping the land surface to conduct ecological research in cooperation with interdisciplinary partners located around the world – from the African savannas through German temperate forests to the Arctic tundra. In this context, I use geo-spatial statistics and predictive modelling to turn remotely sensed data into information of value for ecology research.

I am teaching students as part of the international EAGLE MSc. programme (Earth Observation and Geoanalysis) at University of Würzburg and the international Elite Master Ecological Forecasting (Ecology, Forecasting, Decision Making) within the Elite Network of Bavaria (ENB) at University of Bayreuth and University of Würzburg, where I hold a lecturer position since 2019. In addition, I have been holding guest lectures at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), Norway, and at the non-profit teaching initiative AniMove, focusing on the value of remote sensing and geo-spatial modelling for ecology research.